


Books For You

by summerartist



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Brilliant!Donna, Fluff, Gen, bookshops, mildly dyslexic Donna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 09:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23349016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerartist/pseuds/summerartist
Summary: The Doctor takes Donna to a particular kind of futuristic bookshop. (and spoils her)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 35





	Books For You

Donna browsed through the shelves and shelves of data discs, all bio-degradable and neatly organized. Her fingertips lingered on the smooth edges of the containers. She smiled softly, wondering how that daft alien knew to bring her here of all places. She didn’t come across as brainy to most people.

The Doctor had grinned at her earlier, shoving some currency towards her before giving her a gentle push in the direction of the audios. Perhaps by some design, he had been made aware of her rather humble collection at home.

  
  
“So, did you find anything yet?”

The Doctor’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he strolled down the aisle.

“That depends, are we really here for leisure or is there some conspiracy we’re supposed to be investigating?

The Doctor smirked. “It’s just a little shop, well, big shop.”

Donna hummed. They were near the Sci-Fi and Western section. History and Languages were in the next row. “So, you just decided to take me to a mostly audible bookshop.” She took out what looked to be a bodice-ripper type audio just to see his reaction.

“The Tardis told me you had already read all of hers.” He shrugged, watching as she replaced the audio and scanned the others.

Donna had to dodge around the guide kiosk in order to enter the next two aisles. The layout was so that the patrons only had to press a few buttons to hear where they were, and portable verbal scanners were housed at the aisle stations.

“This place is a little overkill, don’t you think?”

“Not for other alien species and some humans too,” he said calmly. He then proceeded to tell her about all of the aliens that had audibly arranged bookstores or “storystores.” He described all of the different ones he had visited.

Donna interrupted him. “I can read, you know.”

He paused and his eyes widened. “’Course you can! Never said you couldn’t.” Something lingered in his gaze though as he said it. “They have printed books here as well.”

A memory was niggling at her mind. She remembered the Doctor walking in on her last week as she had been organizing the Tardis library.

“You saw me when I was trying to read those science books, didn’t you?”

The Doctor suddenly became fascinated by a section on herbs and fungi. He nodded, still avoiding her gaze.

“I’m not stupid,” Donna said with just a hint of defensiveness.

“’Course you’re not.” He had finally turned away from the titles to look at her. “You’re brilliant.” He looked like he meant it too.

Now Donna had to turn away. “I spent six months as a Temp in a library. I wouldn’t have got the job if I couldn’t read.”

“Yes, and you enjoyed it to some extent, but not fully I’d wager.” He made a motion with his hand, indicating that she should wait where she stood.

The Doctor quickly retrieved a book from the printed section. He held it out to her. She took the plainly bound tome and he waited while she perused it.

_Nearly t_ _eenage_ _d_ _Donna eyed her Grandad’s astronomy_ _books_ _. She knew that she was finally old enough to understand them and become smart like_ _the_ _special people she was always hearing about on the news. She pulled a couple of them out, heart pumping excitedly as she turned past the acknowledgments_ _and_ _chapter_ _index_ _to the first page._

_The words were tiny. She squinted, reading through the first couple of sentences and working her way to the next paragraph. She blinked and lost her place. She ran her fingertip across the words, determined to follow along. After the first three paragraphs she was rubbing at the bridge of her nose. She opened up her other picks and was dismayed to discover that they were similarly printed. Maybe she was just too thick for these smart people books._

Donna skimmed through the sentences in the Doctor’s book. She slowed down, realizing that she was actually able to read the normal font quickly. The book had advanced scientific terms and she understood the majority of them. There were larger paragraph breaks that she could visually navigate through.

“Better?” He asked. “Mind you, I don’t see why human publishers feel the need to make books visually complicated for humans past adolescence. They-”

“Oh, shut up.” Donna wrapped him up in a hug.

The Doctor froze, going quiet again. He placed a hand on her back. “So, do you like it?”

Donna sighed at the daft alien. Trust him to hand her something she’d always wanted and ask her if she liked it. She squeezed him in answer.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”

She could practically hear the smug smile in his voice.

“Did I tell you they have comic books here?”

They spent the next couple of hours finding material for Donna to read. The Tardis downloaded free novels and audible texts for Donna as well. By the time they finished, Donna was grinning from ear to ear. Her joy was infectious and the store patrons kept out of their way as the mad couple dashed through the aisles.

They left with a couple of shopping bags. The Doctor carried her discs for her while she clutched a printed volume to her chest. It had been a while since she had felt so excited about learning something.

“Thank you for this.” She held onto him as they walked side by side.

The Doctor swung their joined hands like a delighted child. He hadn’t stopped grinning. “Think you’ll be too busy reading to travel with me from now on?”

“Not on your life! You aren’t getting rid of me, Spaceman.”

The Doctor looked very pleased about that. It had been an exceptionally good day.

The End.


End file.
